WilyKat jerked his head to the right as he realized his sister had turned toward the eastern edge of the forest.

"Not that way, Kit," he said. "We won't find any food in the east - it's all picked through. We should head west."

"But the water well is in the east, and Lion-O will be there," WilyKit reminded him. "We ought to check on him and make sure he's okay."

WilyKat agreed. The two ran deeper into the forest and spied Lion-O sitting with his back against the well, next to a stretch of metal piping. The Berbils laid down a quarter-mile conduit from the well to Avista, which emptied into a reservoir just beyond the eastern edge of the forest. The kittens crouched down at a distance behind the conduit and watched the young lion, fully dressed in his armor, with his gauntlet and Sword at his side. His pet Snarf snuggled down on his lap, and a gourd of water lay beside them. Lion-O's aqua blue eyes shone darkly with contemplation. He muttered to Snarf.

"I don't know, Snarf. Like I said, this is starting to feel pretty hopeless. Sometimes I think that Panthro and the kittens are the only ones who even understand the mission." Lion-O frowned as Snarf mewed in agreement. "I guess you're right. I'm getting into fights with Tygra. Cheetara's run off somewhere. And Tygra. When has Tygra ever been there when I needed him, Snarf? He's got some nerve calling me self-centered. I've never met a cat who was more focused on himself! I know I shouldn't lose my temper, but he just frustrates me so much. I'll be honest, Snarf, I'd give just about anything to have a brother I could actually depend on . . . ." Lion-O's voice trailed off. He appeared far away, deep in thought.

The kittens looked at each other, pursed their lips and exhaled.

"Sometimes Tygra is pretty mean to Lion-O," WilyKit said.

"I don't know, Kit," WilyKat said. "I think they're both pretty rude to each other sometimes. Maybe it's because they're not twins. I don't think they understand each other like we do."

"That's for sure," WilyKit nodded, noting the shadows beneath Lion-O's eyes. "Well. It looks like he's working it out with Snarf. Might as well leave him to it. He'll come back when he's ready." The two headed back toward the western end of the forest to collect food, and left Lion-O to his thoughts.

Lion-O ran his fingers through a small patch of white blossoms in the grass near the base of the well. The flowers had four tear-shaped petals and a bright yellow pistil at their center. He tried to remember where he had seen this type of flower before. In Tygra's garden, he thought to himself. As a boy, he remembered, Tygra had started a garden in the elm forest near the palace, and he had seen the flower there. Lion-O could not remember the names of all of the plants Tygra tended to. He just remembered how happy he had been on the days that his brother brought him along to help carry additional fertilizer, or maybe some sod to expand the garden. Lion-O looked down at his feet as he remembered the last time he had ever gone there with Tygra. Perhaps one of the last times they had ever done anything like that together.

-o-

"Lion-O!" Claudus had boomed. Little Lion-O looked up and trembled. He had been caught. Lion-O knew very well that on the mornings his father met with the captains and generals, he was supposed to attend sword practice with his cleric. There was nothing Lion-O liked less than sword practice in the large, hollow chamber the clerics used for combat training. The sounds of the wooden training swords clacked and echoed off of the naked chamber walls and announced every mistake, every missed step. So, Lion-O liked to steel himself for the encounter with a pre-training game to lift his spirits. The Crown Prince was deeply immersed in the game when the appointed time for him to meet his cleric came and went. When he did not show up at the clerics' compound, the clerics alerted King Claudus.

The King was not pleased to have his meeting interrupted with such news. Claudus knew where Lion-O would probably be found if he was not with the clerics. Indeed, Claudus discovered little Lion-O playingThunderCats versus Mumm-Ra by himself in the treehouse that the captains built for Lion-O's private courtyard. Lion-O knew that hiding would only make things worse, so he poked his head out of the treehouse as soon as he heard his father's voice.

"Lion-O, how dare you play silly games when I have commanded you to practice with the clerics."

"I'm sorry Father! I . . . I lost track of time and . . . "

"I grow tired of your irresponsible behavior, Lion-O. It is obvious that you need fewer diversions. Come down here. This treehouse has become an unnecessary distraction and I will have the captains destroy it."

"Noooo, please!" Lion-O could not stop the tears from forming under his eyes. The treehouse had become one of the few places he could hide his machines from probing eyes, but he knew that appealing to his father was futile.

"I'm disappointed by your behavior, Lion-O. The clerics called me from an important briefing with the generals to attend to this nonsense of yours. The generals now sit and await my return, instead of going out on their patrols." Claudus fumed.

"Lion-O, when you neglect your responsibilities as prince, your actions have negative repercussions for others. I have had enough of this. You will go to the clerics' compound this instant and spend the rest of the morning in your lessons. Go now." Claudus's royal navy cape waved in the wind as he pointed toward the clerics' compound, and waited for Lion-O to scramble down from the treehouse and run in that direction.

Oh no. Lion-O closed his eyes. He was not quite as old as ten revolutions, yet he could not begin to count the number of times he had heard his father's expressions of disappointment in him as a son. Bleary-eyed, Lion-O ran toward the palace gates in the direction of the clerics' compound. He bounded down the sloping hill to the gates so quickly that he did not see the striped kitten in his path. Lion-O plowed into Tygra and sent buckets of sod, seed, and earth flying.

"What do you think . . . " little Tygra began to yell. For some reason that day, Tygra bent down to peer into Lion-O's eyes, which had become watery blue streams that he tried desperately to hide from his older brother. The little tiger knelt beside Lion-O and touched the lion cub's shoulder.

"Lion-O," Tygra said softly. "I really need some help getting this stuff down to the garden. I've got to start planting soon, or I'll be late for guard duty at the clerics' compound. Will you help me bring it down?"

Little Lion-O sniffled and nodded. He threw his arms around his older brother's neck. Together the boys repacked the buckets and beat their way past the clerics' compound into the elm forest.

"What are you planting this time?" Lion-O asked his brother, his sadness lifting.

"Sunflowers."

"Sunflowers? Why?"

"Because they're yellow and brown."

"What do you want a yellow and brown flower for?"

"I don't know . . . ." Tygra bit his lower lip and looked at Lion-O sideways before answering. "It's for a . . . a girl."

"Pamy?"

"No, not Pamy."

Lion-O was flummoxed. "Who if not Pamy?" Lion-O knew that Tygra's nanny had been like a second mother to the tiger.

"I just . . . I met someone when I started guard duty for the clerics last week. A girl."

"Eew!" Lion-O laughed and rolled onto his back.

Tygra laughed. "I know. But this one . . . she was . . . I don't know . . ."

Little Lion-O sat up and stared at his brother with interest. He had never seen Tygra like this. He seemed somewhat, if Lion-O had to define it, somewhat shy.

"I gave her this one," Tygra pointed to the white blossom with the yellow center.

"Why that one?" Lion-O could not remember the name Tygra called it.

"Well, I thought she might need it."

"Humph." Lion-O had not previously considered that a girl might need such a thing. "Did she like it?"

"No," Tygra lowered his eyes and began digging holes for seeds. "I mean, maybe. I don't know. I don't think she really noticed it."

"What did she do with it?" Lion-O wondered aloud.

"She ate it!" Tygra flashed his tiny fangs, widened his eyes at Lion-O, and grinned.

Lion-O flopped onto the ground with laughter. Tygra giggled with him.

"I wanted her to eat that one. But I'm hoping she'll pay this one more attention because it's brighter," Tygra said.

"Oh," Lion-O nodded. It seemed a reasonable plan. The boys sat next each other, purring softly to themselves.

Lion-O watched as his older brother sniffed and even tasted the dirt. Then, Lion-O helped Tygra drop seeds into holes he had dug. Lion-O smiled as he saw boys approaching from the direction of the stream that fed the garden; one of the boys wore boots and had a rusty-red mane.

"Are those your friends, Tygra?" Lion-O asked. The boys appeared to be heading in their direction.

"Yeah," Tygra replied. Lion-O looked at his brother curiously; Tygra appeared unnerved. "Get out of here, Lion-O." Tygra commanded him.

"But why?" Lion-O pleaded. He had so little time like this with his brother. And he had wanted to meet Tygra's friends.

"Because maybe I don't want my jerky little brother around here, huh? Go. You're supposed to be with the clerics anyway. Get out of here!" Tygra had yelled at him without mercy.

Little Lion-O had stood and glared at Tygra. Of all the days to be yelled at by his brother, that day he needed it the least. He felt fooled into thinking that maybe Tygra was a decent cat after all. He would never make that mistake again.

"You're a jerk and I can't stand you!" Little Lion-O spit at Tygra before running as fast as he could to the clerics' compound. He had never come back to the garden with Tygra again.

Lord Lion-O's heart raced and his breathing tightened at the memory of that last day in the forest with his brother. He felt sorry that all this time later, things between them had not become any easier. On impulse, Lion-O snatched one of the white blossoms from the dirt under the well and shoved it into his pocket. He stood and motioned to Snarf to head back to the cats' camp.

Lion-O reached the camp in the late afternoon. He scanned the area. Panthro was busy with the Berbils working on what seemed to be parts for thrusters for Avista. The kittens were nowhere to be seen. Tygra's shadow was moving back and forth inside the tent in which he had been hiding since their skirmish earlier in the morning. And Cheetara had not returned. The air smelled of burnt metal and oil, and Lion-O realized that no one had started lunch. With Cheetara gone, Lion-O figured that he would have to start the cooking himself, so he might as well get the fire started to reheat the gazelle meat. And if she didn't return soon, he thought, he'd have to go out looking for her.


-o-

WilyKat stood in the forest with his sister, baskets in hand, admiring their haul. Together, the kittens managed to gather a pantry's worth of beech nuts and gooseberries; the western end of the forest also yielded a trove of wildberries, and roots. The kittens thought it wise to pick foods that did not need cooking or complicated processing. They ran back past the cats' camp and headed toward Avista to keep their promise to the birds. At the camp, Lion-O was sitting in front of a fire away from the tents. The smell of roasted fat and salt from the gazelle meat sweetened the air and caught the kittens' attention as they passed by. Tygra stopped pacing within the tent; he must have caught the scent of the meat, too, the kittens assumed. When this business was over, they would look forward to meeting Lion-O and the others for lunch.

The late afternoon was humid and the kittens arrived sweating and panting at the gate to the entrance of Avista. The hawk, the sparrow, the osprey, and the albatross gathered around the gates, waiting for the kittens.

"Here," WilyKat plopped his basket down in front of the hawk. "Enjoy. No earthworms, I promise."

Piter watched as the other birds dropped quickly to their knees and sifted through the baskets, cracking shells and shoveling the nuts into their beaks and sucking on the berries.

WilyKat gazed at the birds in amazement. He knew the intense stare and the tendency to swallow before chewing. This was hunger. These chicks actually had been hungry.

"What is this?" Piter shouted. "We didn't ask for nuts and berries! This is no better than the cripe that our scouts bring back. I'm a hawk. I don't want that cripe. There are no rodents or anything like that around here for us to catch ourselves. You were supposed to bring back gazelle meat!"

"But, I thought you said you wanted fresh food," WilyKat was confused.

"You think that we're stupid! We can smell you cooking it." Piter was incensed. "It's your fault we're stuck here without proper food."

"You're the reason our fathers and mothers crashed and died!" The osprey stood shouting.

Piter grabbed a bed of feathers on the osprey's chest, his beak trembling with rage. "Don't tell him that! Don't tell that cat anything."

"But it's true," the osprey cried. "It's his fault!" Piter released the osprey and turned to face the kittens.

"You're the one who should be dead, cat," Piter seethed. He snapped his wings open and flew at WilyKat.

WilyKat reacted instinctively. He pulled out his flink and aimed for the hawk's wing. Snagging it, WilyKat pulled hard and yanked Piter like a kite from the air to the ground. As he fell, Piter beat his powerfully winged shoulders and wrenched the flink from WilyKat's hand, tossing it to the sparrow. WilyKat leapt onto the downed bird and tried to pin him to the ground, but Piter tossed WilyKat backward and the kitten landed on his back. The osprey raced over and grabbed WilyKat's arms; the albatross grabbed his legs. Piter hopped to his feet, straddled WilyKat and delivered the blows.

"Let him go!" WilyKit shouted and drew her flupe. She closed her eyes and blew. Her song spread out over the birds like a tranquil wind blowing a cradle to and fro. The eyelids of the albatross grew heavy, his grip loosened around WilyKat's legs, and he fell forward, snoring onto WilyKat's belly.

WilyKit continued her song, lowering her pitch, deepening its hypnotic tones until she felt a tug, then a yank at the flupe, after which her hands were empty. She swiveled around and caught the sparrow's piercing glare. His eyes were bright and contemptuous; her song had not affected him at all. The sparrow wrenched both of WilyKit's arms behind her back and restrained her as the other chicks began ripping tufts of fur from WilyKat's ears and pounding his body and face. Piter's blows eventually slowed and he stood.

"I'm keeping your toys," Piter announced. "And you're coming back tomorrow. Meet us in the eastern edge of the forest at dawn with breakfast. If you don't bring the meat, then one of you is dead. You had better come back, or we'll find you."

The osprey and the albatross released WilyKat, and the sparrow released WilyKit. The kitten brought her brother slowly to his feet, and helped him to stand.

The birds took the baskets back through the gates of the city, and WilyKit helped her brother to limp back to the ThunderCats' camp.

"WilyKit, don't forget, you promised not to tell anyone about this. I won't look weak in front of the other cats," WilyKat said, grimacing as they walked.

"But Kat . . . "

"No one. Not Aburn, or any of the elephants, or anyone. You promised."

WilyKit held her brother upright in her arms, and he leaned on her for balance. His fur was stained where the birds had ripped at his ears, his face was bruised and he could barely walk. But more, she saw, his body and shoulders sagged heavily; he hung his neck low, and hid his eyes from her. She knew he felt beaten. In all the eight years she had known him, she had never witnessed her brother appear so ashamed.

Her heart pounded as she thought through the options, and she realized that she could not tell the others. If she did, it would not just wound her brother's pride, but shake his trust in her. Even when they lacked food, or water, or shelter, the trust they shared had never been broken. More than anything, their loyalty to each other had been the reason they'd always survived. So, though it went against her better judgement, WilyKit decided to support him with her silence. She knew that they would manage this latest problem together, as they always had.

-o-